Will This Guy Replace Benicio Del Toro in ‘Star Trek 2?’

J.J. Abrams isn't wasting time replacing the Oscar-winning actor, and Edgar Ramirez, star of Carlos, is the frontrunner.

When Benicio Del Toro turned down Star Trek 2 he left, fittingly enough for a space opera, a vacuum. Naturally, J.J. Abrams abhors a vacuum. Almost as much as we love puns. Abrams is casting his anxiously-awaited sequel like a madman, however, adding both Alice Eve and Peter Weller in the last week or so, and the villain is kinda important to the film, so he's searching for a replacement. Top of the list: Edgar Ramirez, who earned accolades for his starring turn in the mini-series Carlos.

Variety made the announcement, adding that Bad Boys II star Jordi Molla is in the running as well. The most obvious observation to make about the news is that Abrams is seeking hispanic/latino actors for the role. Some might think this means that he's casting the role of Khan, originally played by Ricardo Montalban, but not necessarily. If you'll remember, the role of "Khan Noonien Singh" was originally supposed to be Indian. Then again, Montalban's wasn't terribly preoccupied with keeping up that pretense, so this could go either way.

CraveOnline will be back with more Star Trek 2 news if the Force is with us. Wait, that's no good…